Gambler's card looked clean

Don't expect tournament officials to block the entrance to the Del Monte Forest if Bill Walters arrives for next year's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Walters, owner of a Las Vegas golf empire, received plenty of suspicious attention when he and his partner, FredrikJacobson, won this year's pro-am competition by 10 shots, finishing at 38-under-par. What made their victory curious was Jacobson's modest performance in the professional side of the event - he tied for 14th at 4-under - and Walters' unique background.

He was the subject of a 2002 Golf Digest profile detailing his history as a gambler and "golf hustler" - he claimed he once lost a $2 million bet and another time made a 40-foot putt for $400,000. The story also described Walters as a "3-handicapper disguised as a 16." He carried an 11-handicap in the AT&T.

Ollie Nutt, president of the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, which runs the tournament, said "nothing unusual" surfaced when officials analyzed the scorecards of the top pro-am teams. Nutt said it's routine practice to scrutinize the scorecards of the top 10 teams.

Jacobson had 15 birdies and two eagles during the tournament (plus 11 bogeys and two double bogeys), immediately taking the team to 19-under in the better-ball format. Nutt said Walters made par/net birdie on one of the holes where Jacobson made double bogey, and he had a net par on the other. So Walters helped his team by five shots on those holes alone.

The winning tandem typically falls in the 34-to-40-under range, Nutt said, and it's not uncommon for a pro to fare poorly but his team to finish high (three pros in the top six of the pro-am competition missed the cut). Tournament officials typically calculate how many shots an amateur helps his team beyond net pars on the holes where the pro makes bogey or worse. Walters helped Jacobson by five shots on that basis, standard fare among the top pro-am teams.

"We don't see a pattern that says something is screwy," Nutt said Wednesday. "It doesn't stand out as being a real issue, versus several of the other amateurs. Is he a 9, 10 or 11? I don't know. We checked things in the GHIN (the handicap system). ... People can put in whatever score they want, but we're going with the information out there."

Even if Walters is a legitimate 11-handicap, his victory highlighted a hazardous element of pro-am events. Whispers of sandbagging are almost inevitable - there was chatter last year, when then-Bearing Point CEO Harry You, an 18-handicap, made an astonishing par save in the final round on the same hole partner Phil Mickelson made double bogey. They eventually won at 39-under (Mickelson won the pro side at 20-under).

At any rate, Nutt suggested Walters would be welcome in the future. It doesn't hurt that he was invited by a tournament sponsor, not the Monterey Peninsula Foundation. Nutt said the foundation previously has stopped some amateurs from returning, given suspicions of sandbagging.

"We've found some questions - enough questions on some guys not to invite them back if they were our invitees," he said.

Wie's debut: Annika Sorenstam made a strong opening statement, winning her 70th career LPGA title Saturday. Now imagine the intrigue if Michelle Wie soon wins her first.

Wie makes her season debut at this week's event in Hawaii. Given her terrible 2007 season, it's easy to forget she finished in the top five of three majors in '06 - at age 16. If her injured wrist really is healed, look for Wie to spice up this LPGA season.

"My goal is to not think about last year," she said Tuesday in Hawaii, "and to only think positively about the future, the present, what's happening right now in my life."

Wie plans to skip the spring quarter at Stanford. That will become habitual: In a Golf Channel feature to air this weekend, Wie described her intention to graduate in "six or seven years," annually skipping the spring quarter to resume her golf career.

Captain Freddie?: One tantalizing name to consider as a possible U.S. captain for next year's Presidents Cup at Harding Park: Fred Couples. He's accomplished, charismatic, popular and apparently interested. Golf Digest, in a recent profile of Couples, referred to his "not-so-subtle lobbying" to become captain of a Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup team. PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem is expected to name captains in the next several weeks.

Briefly: The tour's policy board will vote Monday on a proposal to change the new cut rule. The Players Advisory Council recommended returning to the traditional 36-hole cut of the top 70 and ties. If that results in more than 78 players, another cut after the third round - again, to the top 70 and ties - would help reduce the field for the final round. ... The Amateur at Wente Vineyards, a 36-hole tournament at the Greg Norman-designed layout in Livermore, begins Saturday and ends Sunday.